The Questions
by katnissjackson1019
Summary: How Katniss and Peeta explain to their daughter about the Hunger Games. I'm still not sure whether it should be a one-shot or not but please review! Don't read if you haven't read Mockingjay yet.


Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the characters. If I did, why would I be writing on a FANfiction site?**

Age 5

3rd person POV

"Mommy, why do you have so many nightmares? And why does Daddy always ask you if things are real or not real? Doesn't he know the difference? Daddy can do anything!" Those were the words of a young, dark-haired girl with blue-eyes to a woman older than her. The older woman looked a great deal like her daughter, but her eyes were gray instead of blue. The woman paused, but then she spoke as if every word hurt her. "It's a long story Rue, maybe I'll tell it to you some other time." "Another time like tonight?" she asked hopefully. "No, probably not tonight, but a little longer than that. I'll tell you when you're older.

Rue frowned. She wanted to protest but the look in her mother's eyes told her that it wasn't the time to say anything. So she did the natural thing, she went to her father. Soon she found her father painting a beautiful picture of the sunset. She walked carefully until she was right next to her. He didn't even notice her there. "Boo!" she said loudly. Her father was scared. He dropped everything and looked around with large, fearful eyes. He began to breathe quickly and his pupils became larger. He grabbed the art stool and began to breathe slowly. Finally after a while he calms down. That's when he notices her. "Oh, it's you Rue," he says. "Daddy what happened?" she asked. "It's nothing," he replies, "I'll tell you when you're older."

Age 7

Katniss' POV

"Mommy, what are the Hunger Games." At this I dropped the plate I was holding. "Where did you hear about that?" I demanded. My daughter looked at me frightened, "I heard about it from some of the bigger kids at school. He said that you and Daddy had something to do with it." I pause and think to myself, _what should I do?_

"Rue, I'll tell you about this when you're older. You're too young to know about these kinds of things. This gets her upset, "Mommy I'm responsible and I am old enough to learn about the Hunger Games." I can see that she's like me in a way; she's stubborn and has a lot of fight in her. But that doesn't mean I'll tell her. I just laugh humorlessly and say, "Rue, you'll thank me for this later." She screams, "You're impossible!" and stomps away.

Age 12

Today is Rue's 12th birthday. If she had been living in Old Panem she would have been eligible for the Reaping. I decide to tell her today about the Hunger Games today. I find Peeta and tell him, "I know how you may feel about this but I think it's time to tell our Rue about the Hunger Games, she's going to learn about it in school anyway." It's hard for me to say this but I would rather Rue learn about the Hunger Games and the rebellion from us, rather than from people who don't know her as well. Peeta must have some of the same thoughts as I do because he looks pained too. "Okay," he complies.

I take our book and find both of our kids in Rue's room. "Cinna," I say to my son, "Can we talk to Rue alone please?" I see him about to protest but I shoot him a look and he leaves. I look at Peeta and he nods slightly. "Come on let's sit down," I say and I prepare to tell her the story of our lives.

"Sweetie," I start, "Do you know about the Capitol?" "Of course I do," she replies indignantly, "It's where President Paylor is. She is in charge of all of Panem." I smile a little, "Well, they weren't always as nice as they were back when I was your age. Every year they made each district send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 to participate in a contest called the Hunger Games." "Cool! That sounds like fun," she says. "No, it wasn't fun at all because each tribute or contestant had to fight to the death in a free-for-all. There were 12 districts and two people per district, meaning 24 people. Your father and I participated in the 74th Hunger Games." Now she's looking at me with frightened eyes.

Slowly Peeta and I begin to tell her everything we can without making it too scary. We tell her about the berries, the Quarter Quell, the rebellion, me being the Mockingjay, and Peeta's hijacking. We take out the book and show her the information inside: pictures of Prim and Lady, her namesake Rue, and Cinna. I'm not sure how she's taking it but I keep going. I just want to get the whole thing over with before I do something stupid like cry.

We look at her and I can see that she's frightened. As if on cue she bursts out into tears. I wrap my arms around her and soothe her. Now I know that maybe it would take a while for her to adjust to this new knowledge, but I promise her that her childhood will not be like mine. And I intend to keep that promise.

**So did you like it, hate it, or just don't care? Do you think I should write more? I don't know, read and review please. **


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